The Way to the Dawn
by Emeliore
Summary: CHAPTER 01: AntiForm. Riku paid a high price for his Soul Eater to transcend into his Way to the Dawn: Anyone who will love him, will have his or her heart and soul taken over and eaten by the Way of the Dawn to keep Riku's darkness from eating him alive.
1. Way to the Dawn

**The Way to the Dawn**

_00. The Way to the Dawn_

"That's a beautiful Keyblade, Riku," he heard Sora say, his voice slightly muted by the crashing of the waves.

The boy named Riku looked up to his slightly gaping friend and handed his best friend The Way to the Dawn, careful not to let go part of the hilt so that the winged blade will not dissipate from Sora's careful touch. Keyblades were funny that way; once held by persons other than their owners, they disappear only to rematerialize in their rightful owner's grasp.

"It was called Soul Eater, once," Riku whispered as he leaned against a palm tree, his gaze pulled by the hypnotic ebbing of waves.

Sora let out a rueful laugh. Riku raised an eyebrow as he looked again at his younger friend, only to be met by eyes glazed with sadness. "You didn't have to, you know."

"Didn't have to what?"

"Walk in the Darkness. You didn't have to…I mean," Sora sighed and drew strange circles in the sand with his bare heel. "You let the Darkness eat your soul, little by little. That's not right…"

Riku merely shrugged, silent, and laid back to witness the most fulfilling and rewarding scene that his eyes ever beheld in his whole life: his Keyblade of Darkness—the core of his penance and hardship—being cherished by the only reason Riku proffered himself to almost eternal damnation.

♠

"So you wish to for a better way to wield the Darkness?" Darkness in Zero had asked him, his crimson cloak's shadow enveloping the prone form in front of him.

Riku, sprawled on the cold ground of the World that Never Was, nodded weakly, his hand clutching at his heart. "I can't…take it…any longer," he rasped, an errant tear flowing down his cheek like a blood from a blade-wound. "I cannot lose myself! Not yet! Sora…"

"Your friend needs you, I take it," said the Darkness in Zero coldly, as if talking to someone who was sitting with him for tea instead of with a boy whose soul would be taken over within seconds. "I am afraid that he will only use you more, like a tool for saving his beloved Princess of the Heart. Either way, you lose. You know what I mean."

Riku then spat blood. Black, shadowed blood spread all across his face soaked the tips of his silvered hair. "I don't CARE!" he hissed defiantly. "I've been a tool of darkness for so long, I won't even notice the difference."

"Give up your Keyblade, then. Give me the Soul Eater."

With the remaining ounce of his strength, Riku wordlessly summoned the Soul Eater. "What shall I do, then, without the Keyblade?" he murmured softly as the Darkness in Zero took the blade, letting his face kiss the cruelly cold ground, numbness slowly overtaking his body. Darkness slowly eating his soul. "I wish…"

"You wish to be useful to your naïve friend," Darkness in Zero finished for him. "Child, the moment I give you this other Keyblade, heed my words: This will keep the Darkness within you in check. However, it does have its price," he paused. "Do you wish to hear it?"

"What do I look like to you?" Riku managed to snipe, despite blood flowing down his chin.

"The moment someone loves you, and wills his or herheart to you, the Darkness will claim the loving heart as its own," DiZ said. "It will feed on your beloved's soul to sustain its own strength which in turn will serve you to the very best it can."


	2. AntiForm

**The Way to the Dawn**

_01. AntiForm_

"I think I can tell what you've been through, just by looking at you keyblade," Sora said, letting go of The Way to the Dawn. "Angel and devil's wings," he murmured absently. "Did you really...?" The younger boy bit his lip, as if he regretted what he said. He walked a few paces away from Riku, and with his own Keyblade—the Oathkeeper—drew a sketch of what Riku could make out as a crudely-drawn kitten on the damp sand.

A wave rolled over the drawing, erasing the image, leaving Riku only Sora, the moon, and the sea for him to look at.

"Did I really what?" Riku sighed in mock exasperation. "For me to understand you--"

"Did you really become evil, is what I wanted to know," Sora cut him off, suddenly looking as if a thorn was pulled out violently from his throat. "That's--that's what I wanted to know, Riku."

The older boy paled, and abruptly turned away. "What the heck are you talking about?" he said, cross at Sora and at the same time burning with shame. "That's not something you ask anyone. I thought you already know," he shook his head. "I don't need to go through it again."

"Don't take it wrongly!" Sora exclaimed, and tugged at Riku's arm. "Look at me! I just think that it's not right for you to share that pain with me. Kairi would want that too, I know, but you keep shutting us off."

"Let's not go into it again, shall we?" Riku sharply pulled his arm away from Sora's hand and strode across the sand, towards his raft, which was anchored on a makeshift dock. "I'm going to go home, kid. I'm beat."

"Don't you 'kid' me now, Riku!" Sora almost growled. "Kairi and I would keep it to ourselves, if only you didn't keep on sulking all day long!" he ran after Riku, angry. "Come back here!"

"No!"

"RIKU!" Snarling uncharacteristically, Sora threw his Oathkeeper at Riku's silver head. His aim was true; Riku toppled onto the wet sand, face down.

"Can't you see how the whole thing is upsetting me?" He lifted himself to a kneeling position and faced Sora, revealing his tears. "Do you even know how the terrible the nightmares are, how—" he collapsed on the beach, breaking down. "Oh gods, Sora, It's calling out to me again."

"That's why we're here!" Sora pleaded, stooping down and hugging Riku tightly. "Please, Riku. Let us in. Let_ me_ in."

"I can't. You don't understand…" Riku said, panicking, trying to push Sora away.

_No. No. You mean the world to me Sora, but please, please! Don't even think about…_

"I do." Sora said, his voice soothing, letting his head rest on Riku's shoulder. "Let me share your pain, Riku. Now, it's the only thing that I want to do. I hope…you forgive me."

_The curse…_

Riku pushed the thought away from his mind, and could not help but close his eyes as he savored Sora's warm and clean scent.

"Riku, there's something I need to tell you. But please, forget all about what I will say. I just need to tell you…" Sora whispered, his arms still around Riku. "I know, you'll beat the stuffing out of me after this but,"

"Sora," Riku steeled himself, trying his best not to give into the wonderful feeling of the Darkness' release overwhelming him.

_This is how it should be, right?_

It almost felt as if all the pain, anger, and shame that he bore and felt for the past few years flow out of his being in a steady stream, setting his soul free…

"I…"

_NO!_

Before Sora could finish what he was about to say, Riku suddenly felt sharp claws digging into his back and a deep growl vibrate from his friend's throat.

"What the…" Riku's eyes snapped open and pushed Sora away, witnessing his nightmare become reality.

The person whom he had known as Sora, the Destiny Island's "Little Prince", was now a Heartless, a Heartless bearing Sora's silhouette. It wasn't even Sora anymore.

The Darkness already ate Sora's soul, too pure and too innocent to fight back.

"God, no…"

The Heartless crouched low, almost standing on all fours, and his entire being was covered in black. Yellow orbs glowed from where Sora's eyes were supposed to be.

"NO! Sora!" Riku cried, holding the Sora's Heartless close to him, not minding the latter's struggles to free itself. "Sora! Come back to me!"

The Heartless clawed at him, ripping his upper clothing to shreds and tore at his skin, making him bleed profusely. Riku hissed in utter pain, but kept his hold on Sora's Heartless fast, even if it meant to kill him.

That was when he felt something flew out of Sora's Heartless, landing a few meters away from him with a _thud_ and a muttering of a variety of crisp curses.

"What the heck!" It was Roxas, Sora's Nobody. "What's happening to Sora!"

"Help me out…here," Riku grunted. "Roxas, get some—rope," he wheezed, "and let's tie him down for now…"

"Crap, Riku, you're bleeding to death!"

"Dammit Roxas, do as I say!"

Moments later the Heartless was securely fastened to a tree, but Riku and Roxas made sure that it sat on a comfortable position.

Riku scampered to a far corner to throw up. Bile mixed with his anger and despair rose up his throat, and he vomited it all out, trying to exorcise himself of demons in futility. "Why did it have to happen? Damn it ALL!" He cried, falling over as his frame wracked in violent sobbing.

Roxas helped him up. "Nothing's going to change just by crying, Riku. Come on," Reminiscent of the way Sora held Riku as they both walked out of The World That Never Was, Roxas half-dragged, half-carried Riku to the shore to clean himself. "Let's clean the blood off you first."

Sora's Nobody cupped saltwater in his hands and poured it over Riku's bloodied torso. Instead of any sound of pain coming out of his lips, even a hiss of sting, nothing came out of Riku's lips; nothing could be read from his deadened gaze as well.

"You need your blindfold back?" Roxas said, breaking the silence, pretending not to hear the Heartless' wails.

Riku meekly shook his head no.

"That was just a jest," Roxas muttered.

"It's the end as we know it, Roxas," Riku said, then broke into insane laughter which rang sharply in the dead of night.

♠

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Riku heard Roxas ask him as they stood before the great doors of Nothing's Call, in The World That Never Was. Sharp cold chilled him to the bone, despite absence of any wind. Everything was still, and everything was quiet, except for their soft chatter, which resounded all throughout the void of the World That Should Not Have Been.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Riku sniped. With a deep breath he pushed the great doorway open, his muscles rippling in great effort. The door eventually gave way with a loud, empty creak, revealing an empty castle devoid of any Nobodies or Heartless.

"We could have told Kairi, you know. Naminé would probably have something up her sleeve," Roxas said, obviously anxious. "I willing to bet, Sora won't like what you're about to do," he muttered seemingly to himself, but Riku heard him nonetheless.

"Sora won't care in his current state," he said bitterly as the two of them strode through the vast, empty and cold corridors of the Organization XIII's former stronghold. "Kairi and the King should not know about this, Roxas. We both know that they can't do anything, not with Ansem the Wise dead and his machine broken."

Roxas said nothing.

"I have to do this again. I already did it once, what more can this possibly do?"

"What do you mean by 'this'?" Roxas asked, slightly miffed.

"I believe that our dear Riku meant about dealing with me," a languid voice said behind them.

The two turned to face the Witch-Queen, Maleficent, wearing a lazy grin on her face, but still retaining her wintry presence nonetheless. The hem of her dark robes flowed all over the cold white floor of the castle as if it owned the territory. Which it did.

Riku made a small bow. "Your Majesty,"

The Witch-Queen Maleficent laughed behind the back of her hand. "Now, what is this? My dear boy Riku, coming back to me?"

Roxas spoke for Riku, slightly disgusted with Riku's show of patronizing respect. "Sora turned into a Heartless because of the Soul Eater's curse," he said. "We need to rid Sora of the Darkness. We need Sora back."

"And what makes you think I will grant that boon?" Maleficent said coldly, and sharply struck her staff to the glassy floor, creating a thunderous noise which resonated all throughout the Castle.

But the boys were not to be intimidated.

"This," Roxas threw up his arms to gesture towards the enormousness of the Castle. "You got this castle because we got rid of Organization XIII, Maleficent."

"Roxas, stop it!" Riku sharply said, terrified that Roxas obviously did not see the precariousness of their present situation, but at the back of his mind, he was not surprised. Roxas was Sora's nobody, after all. And Sora can very well be blunt when he wants to.

"So, what do you say, Queen? A small price for this big crib," the Nobody went on, oblivious to his companion's pleas.

Maleficent laughed. "Do you think it's that simple? Making Heartless is easy, but making a Heartless whole and clean again is difficult, much difficult. No wonder you're Sora's Nobody, you're an imbecile just like him," she sneered down at Roxas. "Unless you can make…hearts?"

"Then I'll give my own," Riku said quietly.

A mock sigh escaped Maleficent's lips, and rolled her eyes. "Heroic, yes, but also stupid in heroic proportions. Should you give your heart away, Riku, who knows how your Nobody will turn out to be?"

Riku paled. "Ansem."

"Xehanort," Roxas corrected him, and then suddenly peered at Maleficent. "You're too helpful for comfort, Maleficent," he said suspiciously. "What gives?"

"Roxas, Shut. Up!"

"I have my reasons, and by no means is it humanitarian," with a swish of her robes Maleficent walked away from them and into the inner recesses of the Castle. "Leave me be, children. Your petty affairs are of no use for me. Now, go."

♠

"I have to tell you something, Riku," Roxas said as they drove their ship towards the next destination Riku had in mind. "What Sora turned into?"

"Yeah?" Riku said absently, lost in thought.

"It wasn't the first time, you know," Roxas said as he concentrated his sights on the asteroids beyond their path. "You think about what it means."


End file.
